Portuguese Pepe retired from professional career. Take a look at the football legend’s journey

A stopper with an aggressive game characterized by strong emotions and a strong feel for the game. All this and much more was the Portuguese footballer Pepe. He played his last match at the Euro against France. At the age of 41, he played a full 120 minutes, but now he is saying goodbye. Ladies and gentlemen, a legend is leaving.

• Pepe has decided to end his professional career
• He has played 878 professional matches
• He won the Champions League three times, he’s the 2016 European champion

From Madeira to the Bernabéu

Pepe was born in Brazil. At the age of 18, however, he moved to culturally close Portugal, where he initially defended the colours of Marítimo, a team based in Madeira. Thanks to his ability to read the game, he quickly developed into a key player, catching the eye of the Porto team. In 3 seasons he managed to win the title and the cup with the team. In 2007 he then moved to perhaps the most prestigious football address ever.

He came to Real Madrid for a then astronomical 30 million euros. Pepe spent 10 long seasons at the Santiago Bernabéu, in which he touched the UEFA Champions League winner’s trophy three times. He also captured the Spanish top flight three times with Real. He himself scored 13 goals for the White Ballet.

He met other football legends in the Spanish capital. With Cristiano Ronaldo, he played almost 350 matches, including national team matches. Among others, he worked with Xabi Alonso or the still playing Croatian midfielder Luka Modric.

The end in Turkey? No way!

After the 2016/17 season, however, Pepe’s contract at Madrid was not renewed and he went to Turkish Besiktas as a free agent. It is common for footballers to end their careers in Turkey. However, the then 34-year-old defender still had 7 more seasons ahead of him.

He didn’t last long in Turkey. After a year and a half he moved to a familiar address, Porto in Portugal. Here he once again played the role of the main organiser of the defensive phase, which also meant that he often entered matches and managed to win the top Portuguese league once more.

In the last season, Porto finished third behind champions Sportigo Lisbon and Benfica. In the summer, Pepe then managed to play for the Portuguese national team in the European Championship. The Portuguese team crashed out in the quarter-final match against France after penalties. Pepe played the full 120 minutes and became the oldest player in the history of these continental championships.

Pepe has played an incredible 878 games in his career. 141 of those games were with the Portuguese national team, with whom he won Euro 2016. He announced his definitive end on the social network YouTube, where he posted a video of more than half an hour with the telling title “Obrigado” (thank you).

Source: Transfermarkt, Youtube – Pepe Ferreira